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FAR EAST UPDATE Increasing Orders Put South Korea Ahead Of The Competition by Alan Thorpe, international editor Sumitomo Heavy Industries (SHI) are to spend Yl.l billion over three years to develop the sys- tem, designed to aid management and supervi- sory roles in every aspect of shipbuilding. Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) has received an order for two LPG carriers of 84,000 cu. m. from Sonatrach Petroleum of the Virgin Islands. Sonatrach Petroleum, which is a whol- ly owned subsidiary of Enterprise National Sonatrach, is engaged in a crude oil develop- ment project in Algeria. The first of the two LPG carriers is scheduled for delivery in the first quarter of 1999, with the second to follow in the second quarter of 2000. Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) Line has placed an order with Mitsui Engineering & Maritime Reporter/Engineering News The South Korean ship- building industry may overtake, in terms of orders, its Japanese rival by the end of this year, Kentaro Aikawa, the newly-appointed chair- man of the Shipbuilders Association of Japan, has warned. Mr. Aikawa, chairman of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), said, "Judging from the receipts of new shipbuilding orders in the first half of 1997, South Korean shipbuilders could overtake Japan by the end of the year. If so, this would be for the first time in four years." Japan received orders for the construction of 155 ships, totaling 5.6 million grt, in the January/June period, while South Korea received 92 vessel orders, totaling 5.27 million grt, a near three-fold rise over the same 1996 period. Meanwhile, Japanese shipbuilders received overseas orders for the construction of 39 ships, totaling 1.77 million grt in July, a 172 percent rise over the same period during last year, which included orders for the construction of 20 vessels for export totaling 652,370 grt. The main reason behind this increase is the orders for three VLCCs. Of the leading Japanese shipbuilders, Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) has among the largest orderbooks for VLCCs, including a total of nine ordered this year. By comparison, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has a total of four VLCCs on its orderbooks and Hitachi Zosen has eight. IHI is now confident that its shipbuilding division will return to profitability in the cur- rent financial period (and for the first time in two years), buoyed by this VLCC orderbook. IHI's shipbuilding division posted a $43.6 mil- lion operating loss for FY95, compounded by a Y2.2 billion loss the following year. Hitachi Zosen has launched Challenge 99, a management plan to grow the company's annu- al earnings to more than $8.6 billion by the end of 2005. The plan will focus on environmental energy, electronics and information system pro- jects, which together share 50 percent of total company revenue. Chairman Yoshihiro Fujii said the company was considering entering the environment and energy markets in Taiwan, China and South Korea this year. Three of Japan's largest shipbuilders are to join forces to develop a sophisticated computer integrated manufacture system, designed to replace veter- an shipyard foremen when they retire. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding (MES) and
